Door-fastener.



B. B, FAIRMAN.

'DOOR FASTENER.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY s, 1909.

941,771. PatentedNov. so, 1909.-

- mz/mamma anmtot wummo BRAMAN B. FAIRMAN, 0F MAQUOKETA, IOWA.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 30, 1909.

Application filed May 6, 1909. Serial No. 494,257.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BRAMAN B. FAIRMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Maquoketa, in the county of Jackson and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Door-Fastener, of which the following is a specification.

The device herein disclosed is adapted to be used to uphold vertically swinging barriers, and particularly to sustain the grain doors of freight cars, devices which, owing to their construction and the method of their employment, are likely to become dislodged from an upheld position, swinging violently, into a depending, vertically disposed one, to the damage of the inanimate objects which may be disposed in the path thereof, and to the injury of persons standing therebeneath, or in close proximity thereto.

It is the object of this invention, generally, to provide a device of the class above mentioned, which shall be inexpensive to manufacture, facile in operation, and devoid of complicated parts; specifically, to provide a catch for a vertically swinging door, having a tongue adapted to be swung into and out of engagement with the door, means being provided for the limitation of the movement of said tongue, and the said catch being so constructed that it may be quickly and securely mounted upon the car, a striking plate of novel and improved construction being provided, the same being adapted to receive the end of the tongue, and to be assembled securely with the door which it is the function of the device to retain; other and further objects being made manifest hereinafter as the description of the invention progresses.

The invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, delineated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in that portion of this instrument wherein patentable novelty is claimed for certain distinctive and peculiar features of the device, it being understood, that, within the scope of what hereinafter is thus claimed, divers changes in the form, proportions, size, and minor details of the structure may be made, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to denote corresponding parts through the several figures of the drawings.

Figure 1 shows my invention in perspective. Fig. 2 is a perspective of the striking plate, and Fig. 3 is a sectional detail upon a small scale, showing the door and the roof in operative relation with the catch.

In carrying out the invention, a housing 3 is provided, which may roughly be described as being box-like in structure. This housing 3 is open at the front and at one side, and from the bottom thereof, rises a shoulder 4, preferably integrally formed with the housing, and having the function of a detent, by which term, the said shoulder will hereinafter be described. A vertically disposed pivot member 5 is terminally assembled with the housing 3, the said pivot member 5, extending across and through, the open interior of the housing.

The invention further includes a tongue which, at one end is apertured to receive the pivot member 5. The tongue 6 is mounted somewhat'loosely upon the pivot member 5, So that it may slide vertically thereon, to rise above and to clear the detent 4. The tongue 6, at its free end, is arranged to protrude from the front of the housing 3, and is rotatably mounted upon the pivot member 5, so that, after having been lifted vertically to clear the detent 4, it may be swung laterally out of protrusion from the front of the housing 3, into protrusion from the side thereof. It is to be understood that when the free extremity of the tongue 6 is in protrusion from the front of the housing, it is then operative to hold in elevated position the grain door 2 of the car and that, when the said tongue 6 is swung laterally, into protrusion from the side of the housing, the grain-door 2 may be dropped into a vertical, depending position. That portion of the tongue 6 which protrudes from the side of housing, when the catch is in inoperative position, may readily be rasped, to swing the tongue 6 into protrusion from the front of the housing, in a position operative to engage the edge of the grain-door, and when so disposed, the detent serves to restrain the tongue 6, against accidental displacement, in upholding and sustaining position beneath the edge of the grain door. The walls 7 of the housing 3, are adapted to receive the movable end of the tongue 6 upon either side of the detent 4, whereby the said tongue is prevented from moving into extreme and inaccessible positions. l/Vhen the tongue (3 stands in protrusion from the front of the device, one of the side walls 7 cooperates with the detent 4 in limiting the tongue 6 against lateral movement from beneath the grain-door 2.

The device may be assembled with the body of the car in any suitable manner. In the present instance, the housing 3 is provided upon its upper face with spaced, integral arms 8 adapted to inclose between them the roof-beam l of the car, the said arms 8, being terminally apertured to receive suitable beam-engaging means, whereby the device may be assembled with the roof of the car. I further provide, as a useful auxiliary to the structure hereinbefore described, a striking plate 10 adapted to be assembled with the edge of the grain-door 2, to receive the movable end of the tongue (3 when the grain-door 2 is in uplifted position. This striking plate 10 is chambered upon its lower face, as denoted by the nu-- meral 11 to receive the movable end of the tongue 6, and this chambered portion 11, is curved at one end, as denoted by the numeral 12, approximating the curve described by the free end of the member 6. The striking plate 10 may be provided with an outstanding portion 141:, and this outstanding portion 14 may be made receivable into a mortise in the face of the grain-door, whereby the striking plate 10 may be more rigidly assembled with said grain-door.

The novelty of the device is believed to reside in the following claims 1. A catch for a vertically swinging door, comprising a housing open at the front and provided with a detent; an upright pivot member mounted in the housing; a tongue terminally mounted on the pivot member and arranged to protrude from the front of the housing, and to engage the detent in protruding position; the tongue being liftable vertically to clear the detent, and being rotatable laterally upon the pivot member, out of protrusion from the front of the housing.

2. A catch for a vertically swinging door,

comprising a housing open at the front, and provided with a detent; a pivot member mounted in the housing; a tongue terminally mounted on the pivot member and arranged to protrude from the front of the housing, and to engage the detent in protruding position; the tongue being liftable vertically to clear the detent, and being rotatable laterally upon the pivot member out of protru sion from the front of the housing; the housing being provided at its upper extremty with upstanding, spaced, support-engaging arms.

3. A catch for a vertically swinging door comprising a housing open at the front and side and provided with a detent; a pivot member mounted in the housing; a tongue terminally mounted on the pivot member and arranged to protrude from the front of the housing, and to engage the detent in said protruding position; the tongue being liftable vertically to clear the detent, and being rotatable laterally upon the pivot member out of protrusion from the front of the housing into protrusion from the side thereof.

4. A catch for a vertically swinging door comprising a housing provided with a detent; a pivot member mounted in the housing; a tongue terminally mounted on the pivot member and arranged to protrude from the housing, and to engage the detent in protruding position; the tongue being liftable vertically to clear the detent, and being rotatable laterally on the pivot member out of protrusion from the housing; the tongue being receivable by the walls of the housing upon either side of the detent, to limit the rotary movement of the tongue.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

BRAMAN B. FAIRHAN.

Witnesses:

J. \V. GREGORY, T. J. LANCASTER. 

